You CAN So Take It With You
by xXAlissaAmaranthXx
Summary: Pavel Chekov, the baby of the enterprise, was sick and tired of being treated like a kid. Well ok. How about hero worship instead? ChekovXOc, with a little BonesXoc on the side. DEAD
1. Prologue

SO. Here it is. I know all the readers of my Bleach story Fish In a Net are gonna kill me, but I have been completely unable to write it. Why you ask? Because of this l'il bastard right here. I'm a trekkie okay? Gawd don't rub it in. But I've been able to quote Shakespeare since I was three, and NOT because I read it. Nope. Captain Picard taught me. And I learned my math Vulcan style. So please please please bear with me if you read Fish, and if you have no idea what I'm talking about, then enjoy the wonderful fluff to come of the adorable lieutenant Pavel Chekov! (It's the ACCENT! It just makes you want to jump his sexy foreign bones!)

I apologize in advance for the lack of sexy Russians in this particular chapter, but it's the prologue, and I get to do whatever I damn well want. Hell, you don't really have to read it to get the story, but it'll help a lot. This is just the characters background and etc, y'know, the stuff other authors attempt to write into their actual _chapters, _and your just sitting there going GIMME MY FLUFF ALREADY! I DON'T CARE IF YOU HAD A BAD CHILDHOOD! So. Ahem. Yeah. Here's Veronica in a nutshell.

(A super-secret-special-prize to whoever can guess why her name is veronica! No really, if you can guess it, you seriously get a prize. Leave it in a review!)

* * *

**_Prologue_**

I never really understood how I did it y'know. The fixing stuff I mean. I just kind of _did_. I mean, don't get me wrong, that sure as hell isn't false modesty or anything. I'm just honestly as confused about how it happened as the people who walked in and watched.

It was just so…_right, _you know?

Whenever something broke, it almost hurt me to look at it. I couldn't stand to see it like that. It was so lonely, sitting there without a purpose, no one wanting it anymore, given up as a lost cause. And so I would fix it.

My mama told me that I had been born with a precision laser in one hand and a bag of pixie sticks in the other. From the time I was five, I was fascinated by the very notion that nothing was ever as it seemed. A speaker on the wall, cheerily pouring out children's music, wasn't just the black mesh and silver rings that you saw on the outside. If you ripped it out of the wall, and opened the casing, there was a whole tiny _world_ inside. Self-contained, so small, but so intricate, delicate, and so huge in its complexity that you could easily get lost inside. Every time I dismantle a hovercar or resoupe the warp engines for Scotty, or even whenever I fix somthing as simple as a broken communicator, it's a beautiful feeling. It still is, it always has been, and it always will be.

By the time I was 6, I was breaking my toys on purpose, just so I had an excuse to fix them.

Of course, it's not like there isn't moments when I wish I was a little less of an engineering prodigy.

Mama never did get used to coming home every day and finding another gadget dismantled on the kitchen floor. She almost cried when I broke down Granddaddies antique Tesla 2000 roadster. She stayed mad at me for weeks after that one, even after I put it back together good as new, AND added better hydraulics, AND revamped the engine so it went 50 mph faster. I still don't see what the problem was. Granddad loved it.

I never did have many boyfriends either. I was always just Nic to them. One of the guys, running around in cargo pants and muscle tanks, grease-spotted more often than not. I never got the point of doing the laundry after you'd only worn something once. Really, it was just going to get dirty again ten minutes after I put it on. Mama didn't agree, but hey, I was only trying to spare her some trouble.

My big brother always thought I was a weirdo too. Well, hey, I didn't see what he saw in spending his days rooting around in people guts to 'fix' them. Seriously, how does cutting open an already wounded person _help? _You'd think that'd just make it worse. Well, either way, I loved him, and I know he loved me, and as long as I didn't track grease and oil and god knew what else into his room, we were pretty good. His friends loved me anyway. His best friend, Jim, one that he met at the academy, always make horrible dirty jokes about how I spent so much time on my back, and I would wonder aloud how many alien STD's he must have picked up by now, and we'd both turn red and pretend to be mad, even though we both knew perfectly well that as soon as the other one couldn't hear, we were both gonna burst out laughing.

I was so glad bones had Jim. He had been miserable after Jocelyn had kicked him in the teeth like she did. Taking Joanna from him had just been the sparkler candles on the cake.

Well, whatever had made him decide that joining Starfleet was a good idea, I was glad. It started something wonderful for me too. I had come to see him to the academy. Sure he was already a doctor, but he only knew about HUMAN disease, and he needed a few xenobiology crash courses. Plus, y'know, I had also wanted an excuse to see the academy, so I shut him up and made him enroll.

Well anyway, while he did that, I _somehow_, (hint hint) wandered into a mechanics classroom. The rest, as they say, is history. After I showed the professor up in a million different ways, and danced engineering circles around his grad students, I somehow ended up being assigned a dorm and shoved into a cadet uniform. I signed a few papers, shook a few hands, and suddenly I was a Starfleet cadet with a major in engineering and a full scholarship. At the age of 16. Who knew right? And the best part? They skipped me to the grad classes in engineering and math. All I really had to do was pass the science and history courses, and stumble my way through hand-to-hand.

Big brother was OH so thrilled, lemme tell you. He felt a little better after he ended up being the one to give me my entrance physical, and my neck hurt for a week with all the hyposprays he shoved into me. NOONE, I repeat, NOONE, needs vaccines to that many diseases.

Anyway, to finish up a long story made short, Big brother still graduated a year ahead of me, and I missed the huge thing with Nero. Yeah, I was pissed. But as it turned out, I had unknowingly made friends with the engineering chief of his ship in a bar one night, while brother and his crew were on shore leave. Brother was off somewhere attempting to cock-block Jim, and I just plopped down and challenged him to a drinking contest for something to do. Yeah, at 17, I could hold my liquor pretty damn well! Well… I lost, but somehow I let it slip that I was an engineer, and I must have been pretty cocky too, because the next afternoon after me and Scotty were done nursing our hangovers, he showed up at my door with a protesting Brother, dragged me to the shop, and told me I had 24 hours to build him a running hovercar. I did naturally, with my amazing talent and intellect, and not only did it run, but it didn't blow up! I was so proud!

And that my friends, is how I ended up the 3rd in command in the engineering crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise.

* * *

Kagome: I really am sorry about the boringness of this chapter, but hey, it DID need to be done. I don't wanna have to write a whole hoopla of chapters to say what I just said in 3 paragraphs, so c'mon. This way we actually get to the smut FASTER!

Lol, just review, tell me how awful it is, and the more reviews I get, the longer the first chapter will be, deal?


	2. Weronica

Kagome: AND I'm back? Didja miss me? Huh didja? Lol no really I just put the prologue up your not allowed to miss me yet! XD Really though, this chapter? I'm soooo frickin excited, Veronica and Pavel are gonna meet! (I could have stretched the meeting out, but I missed my sexy Russian too much… anyway, just a l'il bit of fluff in here, but it was enough to make me happy, and there's much MUCH more to come, so just sit tight.

LET IT BEGIN!

* * *

**Chapter 1**

Veronica was bouncing. She couldn't help it, really. Up and down, up and down, nervously attempting to waste all the manic energy coursing through her young body. Here was the day! Somehow, she managed to tap her feet as she was bouncing, impatient as hell to just get going! Why? Why couldn't they just let her on the damn shuttle! She needed to be strapped down or she was seriously going to explode.

Her gaze swept over everything and anything in an attempt to distract herself. Shuttles flew overhead, landing and taking off in a choreographed plan, smooth as a seal covered in Crisco. Officers and ensigns scurried around, already boarding the shuttles that launched one by one to the unseen starship orbiting earth.

Veronica glared at them. Lucky bastards.

She sighed and spared a glance for the small crowd of new officers surrounding her. With a pang, she realized she was easily the youngest there, maybe three years between her and the youngest. She blew her bangs off her forehead with a huff, black curls fluttering before settling back exactly where they had been in the first place. She peeked over the shoulder of the woman in front of her. They were _still_ trying to figure out why the shuttle wasn't working!

With a groan, she shoved her way past the woman and strode through the group. She growled as the man bent over the access panel gave her a look.

"I'm sorry miss, but you're just going to have to wai-"

She rolled her eyes and shoved him out of the way.

"Move it or lose it rookie." She snapped.

With a single look at the access panel, she sighed again and yanked out the precision laser that has been holding her messy tangle of a bun in place. With a toss of her head, her curls settled into place on her back. She pressed the button to activate the laser and zapped the loose circuit that has been disrupting the power flow. She held the wires in place while the metal cooled, then slammed the panel door shut. The man, who had been watching her with a snobbish silence, spoke up:

"Beyond you as well-" he glanced at the single gold bar on her collar, "Lieutenant? I've been working on it for twenty minutes already, so if you'll just step back wi-"

"I waited twenty minutes extra for something as stupid as _that?" _Veronica shrieked. With a huff turned and glared at the man.

He turned and gave her a look of exaggerated patience.

"Miss, if you weren't able to fix it either, then there's no reason to yell at me." He said.

Veronica pounded her fist into the side of the shuttle, then crossed her arms and smirked, not bothering to look behind her as the shuttle whirred to life and slid open it's door.

The idiot blinked. With a giggle she stepped smartly past him and walked into the shuttle.

Ten minutes later they landed in the docking bay of the U.S.S. Enterprise, and Veronica shot off out the door immediately. Green eyes went huge as she took in the shiny metal and bright lights of her new home.

Slowly, boots thumping on the metal floor, she spun in a circle. So this was Scotty's silver lady. Machines were _everywhere._ She nearly drooled as she took in the airlock mechanism, the replicator, the wires that crisscrossed every inch of the ceiling, feeding into the lights and alarm systems.

And it was all hers to play with.

"It's beautiful…" she whispered.

"Aye, that it is lassie!" said a loud voice behind her. She whipped around, then laughed and threw her arms around the man's neck.

"Scotty!" She shrieked, then froze, "I-I mean um…sir, reporting for duty sir!"

She leaped back away from him and performed an incredibly sloppy salute, somehow managing to almost fall over and whack herself in the forehead in the same moment. She rubbed her now sore temple.

"Owie…"

Scotty roared with laughter and clapped her on the back.

"Don worry about it lass, for you I'll make an exception!" he managed through guffaws.

Veronica relaxed and grinned. "My professors at the academy would kill me if they saw all the protocol I didn't follow today! The assholes that were trying to fix the shuttle had no idea what they were doing!"

Scotty smiled at her fondly, "I hope you showed them a thing or two!"

"Damn skippy! They didn't know whether to worship me or hate my guts!" she crowed.

Scotty grinned and held out his arm. "Shall I show you my mistress then? You can choose your quarters later."

Veronica's eyes shone. "Yes sir!"

~x~*~X*X~*~x~

Three hours later Veronica officially knew everything there was about the Enterprise. From the Jeffries Tubes to the nacelles to the dillithium chambers in engineering, to the big screen and the pilot/navigation stations on the bridge, Scotty had left no stone unturned as he showed her his 'mistress.'

She had had no idea that so many toys existed.

With a happy sigh, Veronica leaned back in her chair in the mess hall, thumping down her chocolate milkshake. She twitched as a drop splashed up and landed on the tip of her nose, and Scotty snickered, watching her go cross-eyed. She gripped the edge of the table and turned her head at an absurd angle, struggling to lick the offending liquid from her nose.

"It's _cold!_" She whined. Finally giving up, she sighed again, rather crossly this time, and swiped the sleeve of her new red engineering uniform across her nose with a growl.

Scotty rolled his eyes and turned away, shoulders still shaking slightly with laughter. Veronica shot him a glare, then rolled her eyes and smiled, giving up.

"So Scotty?" she questioned.

"Aye lassie?"

"When do I get to fix stuff? Can I start today? Huh? Can I can I can I _canIcanIcanIcanI-"_

Scotty laughed and tossed a balled up napkin at her across the table. "Hold your horse's lass! You'll get your chance!"

Veronica pouted, crossing her arms and sticking her tongue out at him. "Meanie…"

Scotty shook his head, still smiling and looked at her. "Alright lass, I tell you what. The navigator's station has been a bit fritzy lately. Go on up and see what you can do."

"REALLY?"

And suddenly Scotty was alone as she barreled toward the door.

Scotty laughed, and moved to pick up his sandwich.

"She's a good girl that one." He said to himself. And then his hand touched the empty plate.

"Oi! My sandwich!"

**On the bridge**

Pavel Chekov sighed as once again his station went black. This was the third time today for god's sake!

"Keptin?" He questioned, barely restrained annoyance in his voice.

"Yeah Lieutenant?" The captain answered. He heaves himself up from his captain's chair and takes the few steps to Chekov's station, putting a hand on the back of his chair.

Pavel flopped back and looked over his shoulder pleadingly. "It did it again…" He did the best he could to keep the whine out of his voice; honestly, there was a limit to even how much _he_ could handle.

Kirk sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "Seriously?" he moaned, "Why the hell hasn't Scotty sent someone to fix that yet?" He turned to the man in blue on the far side of the bridge.

"Commander Spock?" he calls. Spock looked up.

"Yes Captain?" he answers

"Didn't I tell you to call Scotty about this? It's not like you to forget!" Kirk complains.

Spock raises his eyebrow a bit. "I assure you I did not forget Captain. Mr. Scott was informed approximately 4.3 hours ago of the problem with the lieutenants console."

Kirk sighed and rubbed his temple. They were scheduled to leave space dock in half an hour. How the hell was he supposed to steer a ship without a navigator?

Tapping the insignia on his chest he tilted his head and addressed the ceiling.

"Kirk to Chief Scott" he commanded. The little device beeped cheerily at him.

"Scottyyyyyy…." He whined, ignoring the raised eyebrow Spock shot him across the room, "Where the hell are your people!"

Scotty laughed. "Aye they're comin captain! I think you'll like who I've sent too!"

Kirk smirked, "And who would that b-"

"JIM!"

It was the only warning he got before he was tackled to the ground by a small red blur. In a flash Spock was by his side, yanking the wiggling girl off of him and pinning her arms behind her back.

"Are you uninjured Captain?" he questioned, ignoring the girl who was struggling against his grip.

"Lemme go you big blockhead!" she squealed. Jim sat up, rubbing his head, and then blinked as his gaze landed on her. He blinked again.

"Is that… Nicky!" Jim leapt to his feet, "Let her go Spock, she's fine."

Spock's eyebrows drew together, "Are you entirely certain that that is wise Captain? This girl has just assaulted you."

Jim laughed, "Spock, meet the one and only Veronica McCoy." he said.

Spock's eyes widened a fraction, "Am I to understand that this girl is Doctor McCoy's sister? I was unaware that he had one. I fail to understand how he has not mentioned her until now."

Veronica wrenched away from Spock as his grip loosened, and she shot over and hid behind her Captain.

"Jim!" she grabbed him around the waist from behind, "Call off your doggie!" she said pretending to be terrified. With a sigh Jim pried her arms off of his waist and guided her in front of him.

"Nic, this is Commander Spock, my right hand man." He chided gently. He rolled his eyes as she blanched.

"I'm so sorry Commander!" she panicked, "I-I didn't know you were important! I mean, I didn't know it mattered, I mean, I-I-I… Dammit! It only took me one day to screw up! Big brothers gonna have a field day with this one…" And she sank down in the captain's chair and buried her face in her hands.

Jim smiled and poked her. "Hey Captain, get out of my chair."

With a shriek Veronica leapt up, a stream of random apologies falling from her lips.

"Ohmigosh Jim I'm so- GAH! I mean Captain I'm so sorry Captain I didn't mean to sit in your chair don't kill me please and oh my god donttellboneshe'llhypospraymeintonextWEEK!"

By the end of her mini-breakdown Jim was in hysterics. He held his stomach with one hand and clutched at the arm of the captains chair with the other as he struggle to breath.

Spock looked on disapprovingly.

"Captain," he said, "I fail to see any humor in this situation. Lieutenant McCoy's concerns are very real and her apologies entirely in order."

Jim finally managed to stop laughing, and he wiped his eyes as he dragged himself into his chair.

"Spock, with Veronica it's perfectly alright." he gasped, out of breath. Spock raised a disapproving eyebrow.

"Captain she is a Starfleet officer. You cannot coddle her because of any personal relationships you may have." He reprimanded.

Veronica stared at her feet miserably. _What a great fucking first day… _she thought.

The pair of legs in the chair next to her swiveled into view, and she looked up into the warm smile of a bout about her age. He looked as though he was having a very hard time holding back laughter.

"It's perfectly alright you know miss. On _my_ first day, the keptin made me read the shipvide announcements. My accent vas even vorse then than it is now, and the whole _ship_ got to here that one..." He said.

Veronica stared at him, eyes sweeping from head to toe. Curly brown hair, the kind that mother despaired of on school picture day, big blues eyes, which right now were positively sparkling with humor. A cute boyish face, just nearly finished growing out of its baby fat. Gold uniform. One bar on his collar. A lieutenant then… Navigators chair. Slightly scuffed standard issue boots. He couldn't be more than a year or two older than her.

She looked back into his eyes. "Were there lots of 'v's' in it?" she dared to ask. He laughed, and turned slightly pink.

"Da, and two sewen's in the access code. I had to say it tvice." He admitted. He nodded over towards Jim and Spock, who were still bickering like an old married couple, having completely forgotten about the subject of their argument. "Don't vorry about the Keptin and the Commander; they do this all the time. I think they actually enjoy it."

She smiled then, and stuck out her hand. "I'm not surprised. Me and Ji- the Captain used to argue like that for hours. Of course it mostly involved dirty jokes… My names Veronica McCoy. Nice to meet you."

Boy grinned, taking her hand and giving it a squeeze. "I'm Pavel Chekov, the nawigator. Nice to meet you Weronica."

Veronica froze, eyes locked on his just staring at him.

"Oh. My. God." She monotone. Chekov looked panicked.

"Vhat? Hawe I said somethink wrong?"

Veronica just continued to stare.

"Oh. My. God. THE WAY YOU SAY MY NAME IS SO CUTE!" she shouted the last part, very effectively drawing the attention of the entire bridge just in time for them to see her throw her arms around Chekov's neck.

"Say it again say it again say it again!" she cheered.

"Vhat? Weronica?" poor Chekov looked absolutely floored, and he flailed and stood up in an attempt to get his balance. Veronica just held on tighter and laughed and laughed and laughed. Finally she took a step back and kissed him on both cheeks.

"You sir, have just made my whole week!" and she continued hugging him.

Chekov was still struggling to get his bearings, and the kisses had more or less shot the rest of his composure all to hell. His entire face was a brilliant red, and he kept moving his arm like he had no idea what to do with them. He looked pleadingly at his captain over Veronica's shoulder.

And suddenly everyone on the bridge (except Spock of course) was laughing, bent over holding their stomachs tearing up laughter. The kind that makes you feel good for the whole rest of the day.

And that's how Scotty found them when he came stomping out of the turbolift, eyes blazing in sandwichy righteousness his eyes cast about for the perpetrator.

"Alright lassie, what did ya do with my sandwi- What the bloody hell's goin on here?" he shouted. Veronica yanked her arms off of Chekov and spun to face him, struggling to compose her face into something resembling innocence.

"I…" she tried, "I… um… Pavel did it sir!" she pointed at the still very shell-shocked Russian.

"Vhat?" Chekov cried pathetically, "Vhat did I do now?" The Scott stared at him, anger rapidly fading into puzzled amusement.

"Ah, Lad? You've got kiss-marks on your cheeks."

"NO!" Chekov screeched. Turning a shade of red previously reached only by very ripe tomatoes, he rubbed furiously at the glittery pale pink offenders on his face. Veronica giggled nervously.

"Hehheh… so chief? What brings you up here? I was just getting ready to fix the navigation console… yeah…" she looked at Jim. "That was what I was doing right?"

Surprisingly, it was Spock who came to her rescue. "Indeed you were Miss McCoy. So if you would be so kind as to begin?" Veronica nodded vigorously and dived under Chekov's station. "Mr. Scott, please return to the engine room and commence preparations for departure." Spock finished. And without another word he turned back to his screen on the far side of the room. Scotty stood there for a moment before turning back to the turbolift.

"You owe me a sandwich lass!" he called over his shoulder. With a grin and a shake of his head, the captain turned back to Chekov.

"You missed a spot Pavel!" he called.

Chekov growled and resumed his attempt as getting off the lipgloss.

"Vhy do girls insist on veering dis sticky goo on their lips?" he complained. Veronica peeked at him from under the navigation board.

"Well, that particular goo tastes like cotton candy." She explained, as if that would make everything perfectly obvious.

Chekov groaned and collapsed into his chair, spinning it slowly.

"Ah of course. It's all so clear to me now." He looked down at her and smiled. She rewarded his teasing with a brilliant sunbeam of a smile in return and disappeared back into the circuit board.

Chekov's heart stopped. She had a smile even prettier than Nyota's. A few seconds later she popped back out again.

"Who the hell wired this monstrosity? There's like, a gazillion more wires than there needs to be!" she whined. She looked at Chekov, then at Jim. Jim grinned and held up three fingers, then two, then one…

Across the room Commander Spock turned to face her.

"A 'Gazillion' is not a viable mathematical term lieutenant. Furthermore I highly doubt that however many excessive wires you perceive it to represent, are actually present in the console." He chastised.

Chekov, Jim, and Veronica burst out laughing.

Spock raised the eyebrow of doom. "I fail to see what exactly was humorous about my previous statement."

Jim just laughed and waved his hand at Spock to go back to work. Veronica turned to Chekov.

"You may want to back up. I'm going to have to completely rewire this thing." She warned.

Chekov looked confused. "Vhy vould I need to back up for zhat?" he asked. Veronica was about to answer when Spock cut her off.

"Lieutenant, is such action necessary? We are scheduled to embark in 15.7 minutes, and for a new graduate such as yourself, a lengthy operation like a total rewire would take approximately 32.4."

Veronica blinked at him comically, and then grinned. "Are you really that precise? 15.7 minutes?"

"Always."

"Then time me!" she challenged. And off she went. Chekov bent down to see what she was doing, and recoiled as she threw a handful of wires in his face.

"Hey!" he protested. Jim laughed. "She did warn you y'know."

Spock was staring at Veronica with a very fixed expression, watching as more and more wires were tossed at Chekov. Maybe five minutes passed as Chekov tried to detangle himself, and then Veronica started pulling wire off of him and dragging it back under the console. There was a spark or two, and more than once an "_Ouch! You little bastard!" _but less than ten minutes later, there was a scraping sound, and then a bang as she shut the access panel.

"Time!" Veronica called.

Spock blinked. Jim watched him carefully as his friends' eyebrows made a weird little twitch.

"You cannot possibly be finished." The Vulcan deadpanned, getting up and walking over to the station. Veronica tried to scrabble her way out from under the screen, and froze as a long ripping sound echoed through the bridge. She sighed and disappeared back. A second later she came out, grumbling as Chekov helped her to her feet. Chekov tried not to smile at the huge rip down the back of her uniform.

Veronica turned around for a few seconds, like a dog chasing her tail, as she tried to see the ripped, then shrugged and yanked the shirt over her head. Chekov made a little sound like 'eechk' and turned away. She smiled and balled her shirt up, tucking it under her arm.

"What Chekov, am I that ugly? Or immodest? Yeesh." She teased. Chekov turned back tentatively, and sighed with relief to see she had a black tanktop on underneath.

He grinned at her. "Considering the marwelous first impression I just got of you, I question the modesty." Veronica laughed and smacked his arm. She looked at Spock.

"So what's my time?" she wheedled.

Spock gave her as close to a glare as a Vulcan can give. "13.4 minutes."

Chekov blinked, "You mean you are done?" He plopped himself down in the chair and attempted to reboot the console. "Um… it is not-"

_THUNK! _Veronica slammed her fist down on the console, and with a beep the console rebooted. Chekov stared. Spock stared. Jim laughed.

"Did I fail to mention who exactly this is? Jim said with a grin, "This is Veronica McCoy, age 17, top graduate of this year's engineering class at the academy. She's going to be our new third in engineering. Chekov, you can finally stop being the baby!"

Chekov blinked and looked at her. "You are sewenteen?" he questioned.

"Yeah, for the next three months." she replied, "What are you?"

Chekov grinned, "I am eighteen. Two months ago."

Veronica fist-pumped the air, "Whooo! I'm not completely unheard-of!" she cheered. And she hugged him again.

~x~*~X*X~*~x~


	3. Not Quite A N00b

Kagome: YO WAZZUP B*TCHES! Lol I'm all inspired now because I just watched the 2009 movie again today! ^ ^ I seriously pissed everyone in the room of with my incessant chatter. And squealing, there was lots of that. (Seriously, can I help it if Spock's ears and Chekovs accent are freaking MADE of adorable? Seriously!) I fell off the coach when Spock kissed Uhura in the turbolift. I always do… Bitch got no right to be lovin on my man…

OH! And by the way I forgot to do the do-not-own- thingy. I still don't get the point though, I mean, I've said it before and I'll damn well say it again. _If I owned star trek I wouldn't be writing fanfiction! I would be busy fixing all the wrong done in the original series! _Example: that bitch who gets all friendly with Spock in _this side of paradise? _*cocks imaginary gun and pretends to shoot*

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Star Trek! I do not own Spock, or Kirk, or Sulu, OR even Chekov. I do however own Veronica, the idea for this story, and a pair of slippers that look like frogs.

* * *

**Chapter 2**

With a groan, Veronica hauled herself out of the cramped Jeffries Tube she'd occupied for the last hour. A set of frayed wires and melted paneling had kept her hanging upside-down in a shaft for much longer than she'd have liked.

_I need to have a word with Scotty about who installed that circuit board. _She thought to herself as she straightened her uniform, _Hands down the worst job I've ever seen. _She didn't pay attention as she wriggled off the lip of the tube, and shrieked as she fell, landing hard on her butt. She muttered curses in several different languages as she picked herself off the floor, and hissed as her knee popped.

"Uuuuuh…." She moaned, "What were you thinking? It's your first day on the Enterprise and you demand that Scotty lets you work… You're an absolute _idiot_ Nic…" A passing yeoman snickered at her, and Veronica shot her a look to melt lead.

"What are you lookin' at?" she grumbled. It was her own fault really she supposed. After the SNAFU on the bridge, she hadn't taken no for an answer when Scotty tried to give her the rest of the day off. How could she possibly sit still and lounge around in her quarters when she had already gotten a taste of what it was like to work on the Enterprise? And so Scotty had laughed and handed her a PADD with a small checklist of repairs, telling her not to worry if she didn't get them all done. So of course she had worked overtime, only pausing to clock out at the end of her shift before heading back to the tubes.

With a happy sigh she pulled the PADD out of the waistband of her uniform and stabbed the check box next to the line _'frayed wiring',_ maybe a little harder than necessary. She glanced at the clock in the corner of the screen before doing a double-take back at it.

"_2030 hours?" _she shrieked. She facepalmed and leaned against the wall. Her shift had ended at 1700. A loud grumble from her stomach sent her head snapping up. _Food…_

She made a beeline for the mess hall.

~x~*~X*X~*~x~

**In the mess hall**

Chekov sighed, distractedlyrunning a hand through messy brown curls. His best friend sat across from him, casually examining him as he finished his meal. Chekov sighed again, turning to stare out the window they were seated next to, gazing off into space. He couldn't seem to quit thinking about McCoy's sister. Not like, a _crush_, he told himself, more from a sense of amusement and curiosity. After she had left, everyone on the bridge, the captain especially, had been in decidedly high spirits. Not to mention his console hadn't had a single problem since. He could've done without her, ah, _interesting _reaction to his accent though. His cheeks still burned when he thought about the kisses, and how the scent of cotton candy had lingered on his sleeve for hours afterwards…. He flushed, unconsciously. Sulu groaned and rolled his eyes.

"Alright Pav," he said with a smirk, "What is it?"

Pavel started. "Vhat do you mean Hikaru?" he said innocently, "Vhat is Vhat?" He smirked softly as Sulu facepalmed.

"Whatever it is that's got you so distracted that you staring off into space like a lovesick girl." Sulu grinned, laughing as Pavel's face flushed in anger.

"I am _not _a loveseek-" Pavel started, but he broke off, his vision suddenly very focused on something over Sulu's shoulder. Sulu blinked and looked behind him.

"What are you…? _Oh."_ Sulu turned back to his friend, the world's biggest shit-eating grin on his face. Pavel continued to stare as Veronica went to the bar and ordered a drink, and then barreled her way toward the replicator, where she punched keys furiously until there was a veritable _mountain_ of food on her tray. She popped a few grapes in her mouth and chewed thoughtfully, eyes sweeping the room. She suddenly looked very awkward.

Pavel frowned in confusion.

"Vhy does she not…Hey!" he protested, as a cherry tomato bounced off his forehead.

"Ask her to sit here dumbass!" Sulu laughed, jerking his head in her direction. He tilted his head back towards Pavel and gave him a very meaningful look. "You know you waaaaaanna!"

Pavel glared and threw the tomato back at him before raising a hand and waving at Veronica.

"Mees McCoy!" he called, "Mees McCoy!" He felt like an idiot as people turned to look at him, but as Veronica turned to look at him it was worth it. She breathed a visible sigh of relief as she made her way gratefully over to them.

"Lieutenant Chekov?" she said hesitantly, reaching the table, "Can I sit here? It horrible standing there, like being the new kid in middle school all over again!" Sulu laughed, and gestured to the empty chair next to Pavel.

"Sit down already, before Pavel here spontaneously combusts!" he said. Pavel sat straight up in his seat, flushing to the roots of his hair.

"_Hikaru_!"

Veronica giggled at his half-strangled squeak of a voice, setting down her tray and sitting. Sulu grinned at his best friend smugly.

"Is something wrong Pav?" he wheedled. Pavel made a choking sound, and Veronica slapped a hand over her mouth, trying not to laugh. Poor Chekov was looking so embarrassed already. In fact if looks could kill, Sulu would have been a small pile of ash on the ground.

Pavel finally looked back toward Veronica and huffed slightly, noticing her shoulders shaking.

"I'm sorry!" she managed to squeak, "I don't mean to laugh!" Pavel rolled his eyes and groaned.

"Vhy me…"

Sulu and Veronica looked at each other for a few seconds. Then burst into hysterics. Pavel mimed banging his head against the table as they clutched their sides, practically falling out of their seats. It just made them laugh harder.

"I-I'm s-s-sorry Pav!" Sulu tried, "R-really!"

Pavel _might_ have believed him. If he hadn't still been laughing.

Veronica was the first to recover, wiping her eyes and attempting to gain some semblance of composure. Sulu took another minute, since every time he looked at Pavel's stony face he fell apart all over again. Finally though, he subsided into small hiccups. Stretching his hand across the table, he grinned at Veronica.

"I'm Hikaru Sulu. Nice to meet you!" he said with a charming smile. She laughed and grinned at him.

"Nice to meet you Mr. Su-"

"Nope, call me Hikaru. You're too much fun to be so formal, I can tell that already." Sulu cut her off. Veronica flashed him the dazzling smile she had shown Pavel on the bridge earlier, and he blinked, momentarily stunned. She didn't appear to notice, and he quickly pulled himself together and focused back on what she was saying.

"I'm Veronica McCoy," she introduced herself, "Y'know, Leonard McCoy's sister?" she paused long enough for Sulu to nod, and continued, "For god's sake, don't call me that though, the only one who does is my mother…" she paused again to roll her eyes. "Call me Nic or Nicky okay?"

Sulu smiled warmly, "Alright, Nicky it is."

Pavel cleared his throat.

"Karu, how iz it that you've known her for five meenuts and already you are all over her?" he said.

Sulu smirked at him, "Why Pavel, are you jealous? Don't worry, I prefer mine a little older." They looked at each other steadily for a few moments before breaking into wide smiles. Pavel shook his head and leaned back in his chair, looking at Veronica.

"Call me Pavel day? Not Chekov. Mr. Chekov is my father." He said. Veronica grinned.

"Alright," she laughed. "Oh, but you aren't allowed to call me anything other than Veronica." She said sternly. Pavel looked confused, and more than a little hurt.

"But, Vhy?"

"Because hearing you say 'Weronica' is so damn cute!"

Sulu roared with laughter at the look on Pavel's face.

~x~*~X*X~*~x~

They got on amazingly after that, sitting there and talking for _two hours_. Nic found herself just chattering away with them, as if she'd known them her whole life. It was a great feeling, to just simply be _liked._ It was like being in kindergarten again, she thought. That way that a child could just walk up to you, you didn't even need to know their name really, and suddenly you were building castles in the sandbox or throwing a ball around, as if they were your best friend, and you hadn't just met five minutes ago.

_It would be nice if the whole universe were like that…. _She reflected, as she laughed at Pavel spitting water over the table at something Hikaru had just said. _I wish it wasn't so complicated. No superiors and subordinates… Hell, I can't sit with my brother and a guy I've know my whole life, just because their my superior officers…_ Yeah, not calling Leo 'Big Brother' or 'Bones' was going to be a hard habit to break. (She had taken _avidly_ to Jim's nickname.)

She was jerked unceremoniously back to the present as a grape bounced off of her nose.

"Hey Nicky, are you in there?" Hikaru called. Nic started and blinked rapidly.

"Uh….Huh?"

Hikaru laughed. He seemed to do that a lot she noticed.

"Glad you could join us." Pavel said with a smile. "Vhat ve _said_ VAS, ve are headed to the rec room to spar a leetle, and vould you like to come veeth?"

Nic looked at him, "Spar?"

Pavel nodded vigerously. "Da. Hikaru is teaching me. Maybe he could show you a leetle as well?" he looked over at Hikaru, who nodded encouragingly.

"Why not? Heck, a few more and I could start my own class!" The pilot said with a smile. Nic though it over.

"What kind of sparring? Martial arts? Hand to hand?" she questioned. She cocked her head like a puppy. Pavels eye twitched, and he looked away. Didn't she know how adorable she was when she did that?

Sulu was answering though, and he looked back.

"Fencing."

Nic froze for a second. "Reeeeaally…" she said thoughtfully, "I suppose that would be interesting to learn…."

"Great! Let's go! You comin' Pav?" Hikaru.

"Da."

They got up and walked out of the mess, Nic turning her head slightly away from the two, to hide the evil glint in her eye and her smirk.

~x~*~X*X~*~x~

"So I hold it like this?" Nic questioned, trying not to laugh as she awkwardly shifted her hand on the foil. Hikaru shook his head, holding out his own hand, also holding a foil, to show her.

"No, your thumb goes like _this." _He corrected patiently. Nic nodded slowly and tried to look like she was trying hard, while Pavel tried not to laugh on the sidelines. _Let him laugh. It won't last long. _Nic thought smugly.

"That's pretty good. Now… how shall we do this… Let's try just having you come at me, and we can correct the mistakes you make from there." Hikaru smiled at her and sank into a fighting stance.

Nic looked akward, but nodded.

"Alright…" she studied his feet carefully, and acted like she was copying him, "Hey Hikaru, on the off-chance I actually beat you, what do I win?"

Pavel gave in to his laughter as he leaned against the wall, and Hikaru had to choke back a smirk.

"Well since there is literally no chance of that happening… If you win, you can _have _my katana. I won't deserve to own it if I get beaten by a newbie."

Pavel continues to snort with laughter on the sidelines. Sulu flashes her the cockiest smile she's ever seen on a man, and she grins right back. The katana was in a case next to Pavel, and she had seen it as Hikaru had taken out the foils. It was absolutely beautiful, and better yet, the damn thing was _expandable. _God only knew how they'd accomplished that.

"Deal."

And in a flash, her hand was perfectly positioned on the rapier, feet spread in a flawless battle stance, and she was lunging at Hikaru. His eyes widened and he barely managed to get his foil up in time to stop a welt from appearing on his cheek. Shock wrote itself plainly across his face at he began to move through stances, Nic whirling and striking like a master. Pavel's jaw dropped as he watched their movements, almost as if they were dancing, the way feet and arms flashed, punctuated only by the silver arcs of their foils while they parried and blocked.

Nic began to laugh as she thrust and parried, body arching in forms as old as war.

Block, strike, parry, stab, stab, parry, lunge, flip, parry, strike, block...

She felt alive, and she could see on Hikaru's face that he did as well. An enormous smile stretched from ear to ear as he matched her blow for blow. He was absolutely masterful, the best challenge she had had in _years. _It felt so good to have a challenge, for that was certainly what this was. She could feel the strain in her arms, her calves, and sweat beaded on her forehead and back. But still, she could feel that every time their foils met, that he was tiring just as she was. Bit by bit they pushed each other, and she couldn't tell how long they had been fighting, was it minutes? Seconds? Hours? Days? Had there even been a time when she hadn'y been fighting him? It didn't matter, because she was swept up in enjoyment, lost in the thrill of having finally met her match.

She nearly cried the moment she realized it couldn't last much longer. Her arms were nearly shaking, and she was dripping with sweat, but still, Hikaru was in the same condition, and all she had to do was find and opening. Wait… wait… wait… THERE! And before she had even thought of making the motion her body had done it, and the point of her foil was still at last, motionless under Hikaru's chin, pressed against his pulse point.

Something was poking her throat. With wide eyes she followed the trail of Hikaru's hand, over the hilt and down the blade, until the tip of his foil met the hollow of her neck.

She blinked.

They stared at each other in the sudden silence, pouring sweat, their panting the only sound.

And then…

"Vhat the hell Weronica! You said you had newer fenced before!" came the heavily accented yell from the side, and then she and Hikaru were laughing. Bent nearly double, gasping for the breath they didn't have in the first place, and Nic couldn't remember a single day in her life when she had laughed as much as she had today.

~x~*~X*X~*~x~

* * *

Kagome: WHOOOOO! SNOW DAY! I may hate pretty much everthing about Iowa, but I gotta say, snow days are damn nice. So stop gloating and SUCK IT florida! I see you there in math class! Where are your beaches now huh?

Okay. anyway, TONS of thanks and cupcakes to **Lovebuggy, **Thank you SOOOOOOO much! I will most definitely take what you said into account, and attempt to rein my sense of humor in a bit with my superior officers. I've never had someone comments on more than one chapter in my stories before, so again, thank you so much!

And please please please review? I will seriously go back and rewrite an unpublished chapter if someone tells me i'm doing something wrong! Thats the whole point of me being on here, I want to be a better writer! So. See the shiny blue button down there? PUSH the shiny blue button. I don't care if it's a fucking flame, I WANT TO KNOW WHAT YOU GUYS THINK!


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